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"And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.'

Et tu Bruti? Lol.

I can't believe this objection is still around, so I'm going to give you a particularly hard time about it, gscc. This is going to be the FR version of a noogie. And then I'm going to save this post someplace safe where I won't forget it, so that I don't have to re-type it every three weeks.

"And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven." ( Matthew 23:9)

Since Roman Catholics address priests as Father, this is a big concern for many non-Catholic Christians, because it clearly shows that the Roman Catholic Church is brazenly ignorant of Scripture, if not willfully disobedient to It. In fact, when the Westminster Confession were written, this was the verse used to justify the doctrine that the Pope is the anti-Christ.

In fact, the problem is much worse than it initially seems, because we refer to the heads of monasteries as Abbots, which comes for the Aramaic word Abba, "Father", and we call the Pope, well, we call him the Pope, which comes from the word "Papa"--Father. So we Catholics are, as many will tell us, undoubtedly in a terribly wrong position, and might as well acknowledge that our faith is a complete sham, if not a diabolical plot.

The problem, however, is that this verse is not a prohibition against the use of the word "father", other than when we refer to God, and if we read the Scripture that way, we miss the entire point of a beautiful passage.

If Matthew 23: 9 is a prohibition against the word Father, then what do you call your father? What do you call "Father's day"? What does it mean that we Americans speak of our founding 'fathers', and that we have erected a monument to the "Father" of our country--George Washington?

If we look at the New Testament, we find over a hundred, and perhaps as many as 200 references to someone other than God being called Father. The first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew, the one that contains the Scripture in question, starts off with a long list of "fathers" right from the get-go, in the genealogy of Jesus:

"Abraham became the Father of Issac, Issac the father of Jacob....." (Matt 1: 2)

Jesus uses the terms for people other than God, he speaks of Father Abraham in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.

The usage continues in the Epistles.

The Apostle John writes:

"I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father." (1 John 2:13)

Paul seems particularly fond of referring to people by the term "father." He refers to Abraham as "the father of all who believe," and as "the father of us all." He also says:

"For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel." (1 Cor: 4:15).

It is in this later sense that we Catholics use the term "Father" to refer to our spiritual fathers in the Gospel, namely our ministers. In modern Roman Catholicism, our priests foresake marriage for the kingdom of Heaven. The ideal is that they are to become the Father of a parish family, that they are to act towards the parishoners, with regards to seeking their salvation, as you would act toward your own children.

So what is the meaning of Matthew 23:9?

It is an exceptionally beautiful one. God in Heaven loves us even more than an earthly father loves his own child. Our earthly fathers may love us incredibly much and hope for the best for us, but their love is not even noticeable when it is compared to how much our Father in Heaven Loves us. God wants what is best for us, and He is our true Father. He is looking out for our best interest, and can be trusted beyond any shadow of a doubt. Another example of Jesus using hyperbole is Luke 14:26:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple."

The meaning of this saying is made clear in it's parallel in the Gospel of Matthew:

" Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:34-37)

Both of the Evangelists are reporting Jesus' teaching to us. One author, Luke, writes the literal words, while the other author, Matthew, writes the meaning of the words when recalling Jesus' speech. To be sure, there is an edge to what Jesus tells us, and we don't want to miss that. While there are many joys to discipleship, we may have to foresake family to follow him, like the Jews of the first century were put out of their community and perhaps disowned by their families for following Christ. But he is not actually commanding us to hate our families, he is using a dramatic way of speaking to make His point about how important discipleship is, and what costs may be associated with it.

There. That's your internet noogie for the day. I assume you'll repay me in the not so distant future. ;-) By the way, do you check your freepmail more than once a month? I know you're very busy, but perhaps you could hire someone to respond to your emails....

Best,

-iq